Island



(No Model.)

D. D. SPENCE. MACHINE FOR-DECORTIGATING' VEGETA-BLE USERS.

Patented' Dec. l, 1891.

WzLT/wsses UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

DAVID D. SPENOE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

MACHINE FOR DECORTICATING VEGETABLE FIBE'RS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersI Patent No. 464,308, dated December 1, 1891.

Application tiled July 23, 1891. Serial No. 400,420. (No model.) y

the leaves of plants, from the woody and silicious matter tenaciously adhering to such ber, and in opening or separating the ber, so as to adapt the same for carding, spinning, and the production of textile material, and also to machines by which the process is applied.

The invention consists in subjecting the prepared ber to frequent bending and pressure while the ber is supported on a horizontal plane and in the machine by which it is subjected to the process, as will be more fully set forth hereinafter.

In the various processes for decorticating and separating vegetable ber more or less friction between the operating parts and the ber has always been produced by which the ber is-snbjected to heat and is liable` to be torn. In the reciprocating breaker the plates in passing by each other exert strain and friction on the ber placed between the same, and in the roller-breaker the teeth or corrugations exert a drawing friction on the ber.

The object of this invention is to separate the ber without subjecting the same to this drawing friction and consequent heating, and to this end I place the prepared ber on the horizontal table, to which a gradual forward motion is imparted, and subject the ber to the crushing and separating action of a series of corrugated rolls, to which a forward and backward rollingfmotion is imparted and by which every portion of the ber is repeatedly subjected to the crushing and separating action of these corrugated rolls.

The machine by which I carry out this iinu proved process is shown in the accompanying drawings provided with a corrugated bed, and

-ofthe rolls are not supported in the slide,

but the rolls rest directly on the surface of the table or the ber placed on the same, which ber is thus subjected to the saine crushing andl separating strain, but to a less degree to the bending action.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of my improved decorticating-machine- Fig. 2 is a top view of the same, partly in section.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged end View of one of the corrugated rolls, showing the manner of supporting the rolls and the relation of the rolls to the corrugated bed.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the gures.

In the drawings, 4 indicates the two'side frames of the machine; 5, the main drivingshaft supported in suitable bearings formed in or secured to each one of the side frames et. To the main driving-shaft 5 the driving-pulley 6 and the small pulley 7 are secured on one side of the machine, and to the opposite ends of the main driving-shaft 5 the crank-disks'S are secured, Two drums 9, each provided at the opposite ends with the sprocket-wheels 10, are placed on the opposite ends of the machine, one of lthese being provided with a tubular shaft and supported on and turning on the main driving-shaft 5, while the other cured to and turns with the shaft 1l, which is supported in suitable bearings in the opposite side frames 4. The pulley 12 is secured to the shaft 11 and is connected with the pulley 7 by a driving-belt. The drums 9 `form the support for the endless belt 13, to which the wooden blocks are secured, so that on the straight lines-they form a table. To secure a rm support for this table the blocks l-ft slide on the inwardly-projecting shelf 15,

IOO

formed on or secured to the inner side of the side frames 4. The upper faces of the blocks 14 are l covered with the corrugated plates, thus forming a table having transverse grooves and ridges. The rollers 17 are grooved lengthwise with grooves and ridges corresponding with the grooves and ridges of the corrugated plates 16, similar to an ordinary rack-and pinion. The shafts of these rollers 17 extend through and are supported in the chain-links 18, which links are provided with curved skids or sliding surfaces resting and sliding on the horizontal plane surfaces 19, forming the lower horizontal surface of the slot 20,inwhich the chain-links and shafts of the rollers 17 reciprocate. By means of t-hese chain-link connections all the rollers 17 may be moved or rolled simultaneously over the table, and while each roller may rise independent of the others and all may exert the pressure due to their weight they are held from entering the grooves of the table, so as to bear on the bottom of the grooves. The shaft of one of the rolls is connected at the opposite ends by means of the connecting-rods 21 with the wrist-pins 22, secured to the crankdisks 8.

Near cach end of the machine are placed the rollers 23, j ournaled in boxes having capacity for vertical motion. These rollers rest on the table and engage with the corrugated plates forming the surface of the blocks 14, so that these rollers 23 turn with the table. They act as feed and delivery rolls.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The pulley 6, being connected by means of a belt with a pulley to which rotary motion is imparted by some prime motor, imparts 1'0- tary mot-ion to the shaft 5, the pulley 7, and the crank-disks 8. The small pulley 7, being connected with the large pulley 12, impartsa slow -rotary motion to the shaft 11, and to the drum 9 secured thereto, and to the sprocketwheel 10. The belt 13 or the blocks 14 being provided with pins entering the sprocketwheels 10, motion is imparted to the table formed of the belt 13 and blocks 14, by which the blocks are made to slide on the ways 15, formed on each inner side of the side frames. The fiber, being placed on the table on the right-hand side of Fig. l, is fed in by the roll 23 and carried slowly along on the upper corrugated surface of the table, where it is subjected to the actions of the forward and backward rolling rollers 17, operated by the crankdisks 8 and connecting-rods 21. As the fiber is continually but slowly moved with the table from one end of the machine to the other, the rollers 17 are rolled many times forward and backward over the table, and the corrugations or ribs of these rollers repeatedly exert a crushing, bending, and separating-force on the fiber, so that by the time the ber reaches the roll 23 on the left-hand side of the machine the fiber is delivered in an opened-out and separated condition with all the foreign matter so loosened from the fiber that the ber may at once be placed on a cardingmachine and prepared forspinning. As the weight of the rolls 17 is prevented from pressing directly on the table, the frictional contact, so injurious to the ber, is avoided, and the fiber leaves the machine Without being heated by friction-al contact and without being torn or broken. A cleaner, longer, and softer ber is the result.

Having thus described my invention', I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a machine for opening and separating vegetable fibel', the combination, with a series of blocks secured together to form an endless flexible table, of corrugated metal plates secured to the blocks so as to form thesurface of the table, drums supported in bearings and adapted to operate the endless table, a serres of corrugated rolls connected at opposite ends by chain-links and supported on. horl- Zontal slides, slides forming the support of the table, and mechanism, substantially as described, for operating the whole, as described.

2. The combination, with theV side frames 4, provided with the horizontal slides 15 and 19, the drums 9, the endlessbelt13,theblocks 14, having the corrugated plates 16 secured to their outer surfaces, of the corrugated rollers 17, the chain-links 18, adapted to connect the shafts of the rollers and support the rollers on the slides 19, and mechanism,substan tially as described, by which a slow forward movement is imparted to the endless table IOC and a quicker forward and backward motion V to the rollers 17, as and for the purpose described.

3. In a machine for opening and separating vegetable fiber, the combination of the following instrumentalities: a, table forming the support for the fiber and consisting of a series of blocks the outer surfaces of which are corrugated to form alternate grooves and ridges, said blocks being connected together to form an endless table, drums on which the endless table is supported, a series of corrugated rollers connected at opposite ends by links and adapted to roll forward and backward over the table, two corrugated rolls meshing with the corrugations of the table, supported in bearingsY having capacity of vertical motion and` placed near the opposite `ends of the machine, forming feed and, de-

livery rolls, and mechanism, substantially as described, by which a slow forward motion is imparted to the table and a quicker forward and backward motion to the series of rolls, as described.

4. The combination, with thedrums Qand the endless table supported on the same, of the series of rollers 17, connected together by the links 18, the feed and delivery rolls 23, and the frames 4, adapted to support the-machine, of the shaft 5, having the pulleys and IIO 7, and the crank-disks S, secured to the same, separate, and deeorticate the vegetable ber the pulley 12, connected by a belt'l with the in its passage through the machine, as dero pulley 7, and the connecting-rods connecting scribed.

the crank-disks with the shaft of one of the pulleys 17, adapted to impart a slow forward motion to the table and the fiber placed on 'Witnessesz the same, and a, quick forward and backward HENRY J. MILLER, motion to the rollers A17 t0 compress, bend, I JOSEPH A. MILLER, Jr.

DAVID D. SPENOE. 

